“O my God! These days have been ennobled by the name of Há”…

What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a prayer from Bahá’u’lláh, the original text of which is published in Risáliy-i-Tasbíḥ va Tahlíl, pp. 197–202.

This prayer hath been sent down from the Kingdom of glory in commemoration of the Ayyám-i-Há

In My Name, the Exile, the Wronged One

O my God! These days have been ennobled by the name of “Há” which Thou didst confer upon them. Methinks Thou hast made every one of those days a herald and a messenger, bearing unto men the glad tidings of the days in which Thou hast enjoined the Fast upon Thy servants, that they may all prepare themselves for its arrival, fix in their hearts a place to receive it, and with the power of Thy Name, purify their hearts for the advent of those days.

O Thou the Lord of all being, Thou Who art powerful over all that seeth and is seen! I beseech Thee by Thy most excellent titles and Thy most august attributes, and by Them Who are the Manifestations of Thy Cause in this contingent world and the Dawning-Places of Thy Revelation in the Realm of Immortality, to rain down upon them that have observed the Fast for love of Thee the showers of Thy mercy from the clouds of Thy bounty and the outpourings of Thy grace from the heaven of Thy favour. Hinder them not, O my Lord, from attaining unto that which Thou dost possess—the recompense granted for the deeds they have performed for love of Thee and for the sake of Thy good-pleasure.

I entreat Thee, O Thou Who art the Lord of all names, the Creator of all names, and the King of all names—Thou Who art the Exalter of the heavens and their Protector—to open the portals of Thy grace, Thy mercy, and Thy wealth before the faces of them that have humbled themselves before Thy Cause. O my Lord! These servants of Thine are poor, and with Thee are oceans of riches. Feeble are they, and Thou art the One Who is All-Powerful through the potency of Thy might, and All-Subduing through the supremacy of Thy sovereignty. Thou seest, O my Lord, how their eyes are fixed upon the horizon of Thy bounty, and their hearts are set in the direction of Thy gifts. Look Thou, O my God, upon those hearts which Thou hast made thrones on which to establish Thyself, and daysprings from which the light of Thy love is made manifest. O my God! Sprinkle amongst Thy servants, from the ocean of Thy generosity, that which will make them the exponents of this Name. Enable them, O my Lord, to fulfil that which will exalt Thy Cause in Thy dominion, and make Thou manifest from them what shall immortalize Thy Names in Thy kingdom.

O my Lord! These are Thy servants who have been consumed with the fire of Thy love in Thy lands, who have witnessed every abhorrent thing in Thy path, and who have tasted every bitterness even as they yearn for the honey of bounty from the heaven of Thy generosity. These servants of Thine, O my Lord, have borne for Thy sake what none of Thy creatures hath borne.

O my Lord! The hearts of the sincere are consumed in the fire of separation from Thee. Where is the living fountain of Thy presence? Thy favoured ones have perished in the wilderness of their remoteness from Thee. Where are the soft-flowing waters of Thy reunion? Dost Thou hear, O my God, the lamentations of them that love Thee? And dost Thou see, O my Beloved, what hath befallen them that long for thee? Yea, by Thy very Self! Thou hearest and Thou seest; Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.

Thou art He, O my God, Who hath borne the glad tidings of My days and My revelation unto all things. Thou hast caused every one of Thy Books to proclaim My name between earth and heaven, and hast made Them heralds of the manifestation of Thy Most Glorious Beauty. And when the world was adorned with the light of the Most Great Name, every people clung to one of Thine other names. In so doing, they remained oblivious of the Ocean of Thy knowledge, the Sun of Thy wisdom, and the Heaven of Thy recognition.

O my God, Thou Who art the Lord of all things, Thou Who trainest all names! I beseech Thee by Thy Name, the Manifest and the Hidden—and by Thy most resplendent, Thy treasured Beauty—to attire Thy loved ones with the garment of trustworthiness amidst all creation, and to deprive them not of this most exalted station and this most holy, this most great attribute, inasmuch as Thou hast made that attribute a sun in the firmament of Thy decree and a preamble of the book of Thine ordinances. Through it, the sanctity of Thine Essence is so revealed as to transcend every idle fancy and vain imagining, and remain exalted above that which any heart is able to conceive.

O my Lord! Send down upon Thy loved ones, from the heaven of Thy grace, that which will purge them of the remembrance of any one except Thee. Proffer unto them, with the hands of Thy bounty and generosity, the cup of steadfastness, lest the suggestions of men hinder them from the court of Thy Revelation. O my Lord! The day-star of mine aspiration hath shone forth through Thy Name, “The Most Bountiful,” and the hand of my hope hath been upraised through Thy Name, “The Most Generous.”

By Thy glory, O Thou Who art the Beloved of my heart and my most ardent desire! Verily I acknowledge, at this moment, Thy favour and generosity. Wert Thou to keep me back from every thing that hath been created on Thine earth and in Thy heaven, verily my limbs, my flesh, my blood, and the hair of my head would all bear witness unto Thy bounty and beneficence. And wert Thou to banish me from Thy cities and Thy lands, and make me dependent upon the most meager provisions of Thy kingdom for my subsistence, then I swear by Thy might, O Thou Who art the Fire of the world and the Light of its peoples, that both my tongue and my heart would proclaim and confess Thy forgiveness and pardon. And if Thou shouldst chastise me for as long as Thy sovereignty endureth, how could he that confesseth not to Thy consummate wisdom acknowledge that Thou art to be praised in Thy doings and obeyed in Thy behests?

O my Lord! Thou seest how the fire of Thy love hath engulfed me, and consumed every source of life in my heart and in my vitals. Have mercy, O my Lord, upon him that hath held fast unto the cord of Thy bounty; hath clung to the hem of Thy favour; hath enjoyed intimate communion with Thee; hath circled round Thy will; hath fasted in Thy love and broken it at Thy bidding; and hath fled from his own self, seeking the stronghold of Thy protection as his refuge.

O my God, Thou Who art my Master and my Mainstay! Illumine the hearts of Thy servants with the light of Thy knowledge, and enable them to act in accordance with Thy good-pleasure. Make known unto them, O my God, the reward that awaiteth them for their deeds, a reward Thou hast ordained in Thy kingdom and in Thy dominion—and in those worlds, too, whose nature is inscrutable to all except Thee, and whose number exceedeth the reckoning of any knowledge but Thine.

O my Lord! I stand before Thy door with my gaze fixed upon Thy most exalted horizon, my heart entreating Thy grace for Thy loved ones, and my hopes set upon Thy bounty for Thy chosen ones. Ordain, O my God, for every one of Thy servants what will make them content with Thee, what shall prompt them to turn towards Thee, what will make them steadfast in Thy Cause, what will cause them to quaff the choice sealed wine of Revelation proffered by the hand of Thy bounty, and what will enable them to soar in the atmosphere of Thy love, in such wise that they shall regard all else but Thee as nothing beneath the splendours of the sun of Thy Revelation, and as things forgotten before the effulgences of the light of Thy countenance.

O my Lord! Write down for Thy loved ones, with Thy most exalted Pen—whose words can never be effaced—the good of this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the Lord of the throne on high and of earth below. Thou art the Perspicuous, and Thou beholdest me from Thine all-glorious horizon. There is none other god but Thee, the One, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

A scanned copy of the complete Arabic text of this Tablet appears below.